Catcher Julie Jordan posted a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall of 2002 for the first time since arriving at FSU. The junior has always been a good student but it is no coincidence that as soon as she started taking classes within her major that she got straight A’s. It is a lot easier to excel when you are studying something you love and Julie has been fascinated with design since she was little. Currently a housing major, Julie is just itching to make the jump into interior design full time and start to design homes like the ones she sees on MTV’s Cribs or the homes she sees streaming by from a bus window as she travels around the country with FSU softball. Julie sat down to talk about her major, her love of drawing and design and the support of her family from thousands of miles away in southern California.

How did you get interested in interior design?

I like to draw. I love design and looking at different styles and types of interior design. When I was younger, whenever we went to look at a model for a new house I would get so excited. My brothers and sister hated going but I couldn’t wait. I don’t remember the first time I drew something and thought that I may have a talent in that area but I do remember reading something in the baby book my mom kept. It talked about how much I loved drawing from such a young age. I have always loved it for as long as I can remember.

Interior design is not your garden variety major. Currently only 135 of FSU’s 28,000 undergrads are pursuing an interior design degree. Were your parents supportive of that choice? My mom and dad have fully supported me and my decision to pursue interior design. I think they know it is an area where my talents lie and they have always been behind me. I think at first they wanted me to explore graphic design but they have known for a while how much I loved interior design. It is something I have always liked and I can use my drawing skills in that field. They have known it is what I was meant to do.

I always thought my dad was my big softball supporter and my mom was my big supporter when it came to design and drawing but looking back on it that isn’t really accurate. They have both supported me in everything I have done. It was the combination of the two, softball and drawing that have got me to the point I am at today.

You just started to really get into housing as your major this past fall. What have you learned so far?

I have learned so much. This semester we are studying housing at the poverty level. We will eventually go through the different economic strata’s and design in different countries. I love what we are studying right now but I want to switch to interior design because I want to be able to actually start designing and putting my ideas on paper. In the interior design major, I could actually start exploring my own designs. Housing is just the background on design around the world but I feel I am ready to get started designing now. Everything I have learned so far in housing will help me though. Everything the teachers have taught me, I have taken to heart and it has either changed me for the better or shown me something I had never thought of or seen before. I think I am much more prepared than I ever thought I would be to go into the interior design major.

How hard is it waiting to get into the interior design major?

I think the hardest thing for me right now is being patient and waiting for my opportunity to move into interior design. I can’t do that right now so it is hard. It is difficult to continuing taking the classes I am taking when I am just dying to start putting my own ideas down. I get an idea and then can’t do anything with it. Sometimes I take some of my ideas and get them out on paper in the little free time I have. Lately I have been drawing more out of my imagination and I think I am getting stronger with my drawing skills. Hopefully I can utilize that when I start designing because it is such a huge part of interior design. There are a lot of interior designers who don’t use a computer but the influence of technology on design is growing rapidly. By the time I am ready to start a career in the field, I will probably need to know what I am doing with the design software but I think you will always need to be able to draw on paper without the aid of a computer.

I am so glad you brought up computers. How big is the influence of computers and technology in your field?

There is a ton of computer design in our field. Florida State is just starting to offer course work in computer design but it isn’t for credit yet. It is really hard to fit in non-credit classes with playing softball full-time but it is definitely something I want to learn. That is one of the reasons I want to start doing the more hands on stuff so that when I am done with softball I will be prepared to work with computer design because it is such a huge part of the field right now.

Is there a particular design style that is your favorite?

When I design, the style tends to be more modern. I learned a lot of different styles and right now I am learning to incorporate that with my opinion of what looks good. I am becoming better at taking other people’s opinions and making something out of what they want. Whatever design somebody wants, I would try to incorporate my sense of style into that in a way that the client would still be happy.

What inspires your ideas?

My surroundings. Ideas can come from anywhere though. I have gotten ideas from school, TV, bust trips for softball when we drive through the countryside. Sometimes I will look at the houses on the side of the road and just be captivated because they are so different than the houses where I grew up in California. I love seeing the differences. I get some many ideas from both coasts and then throw them all together. The houses in California are so different due to the space available. They are so close together. Everything is so structured and the lawns are manicured. It is so wide open here in Florida. There are huge homes on huge plots of land. I love it so much. Houses all along the east coast have inspired so many ideas for me. I have also seen so many things I like when traveling from southern California all the way through Washington and into western Canada.

Besides reality TV, one of the biggest trends on television today is shows that deal with interior design. From Cribs to Trading Spaces to While You Were Out, design shows are everywhere. Do you watch them?

I love watching Cribs on MTV. I like to see what people do from a design standpoint when money is no object. I think I am kind of split on whether I like what I see or don’t like it. There are a lot of people featured on cribs that have really good taste. Sometimes people with money just want something that nobody else has over what looks good. They want to be unique.

With shows like Trading Spaces I only watch the very beginning and the very end because I am really not that interested in the whole transformation process in between. I look at what they do with the places and a lot of the time I like what the results. Sometimes I have to admit I wonder ‘what were they thinking’. A lot of the designs I don’t like I have to take into account who they are designing for and that is a big part of interior design. And considering they only have $1,000 they do a pretty good job.

You mentioned your brothers and sister when you were talking about going to see houses in California. How many do you have?

I have one sister, Tamara who is 18 and two brothers. Jeff is 15 and Gerald is 13.

How close are you with your siblings and what is it like being so far from them?

Every year I have been away from my family it gets harder and harder because I realize more and more just how important they are to me. Every time I go home I feel so much closer to them and I love them so much. My sister and I fought all the time growing up. I don’t know if it was me being jealous of her or her being jealous of me or being around each other so much but as we got older we both realized we were both jealous of the other. We are finally getting over that and I miss hanging out with her. It is funny because we joke about all that now.

Jeff and I have grown a lot closer lately also and I am starting to see that he is so much like me. I really like the person he is becoming. Gerald is a little sports fanatic and I love him to death. He is a catcher also and he catches like me, which is so cute. He is growing up so much. One trip home I went straight to one of Gerald’s games and couldn’t believe how big he was. He went from this little kid to this athletic boy playing right field. Both of my brothers are growing up so fast and I just realize that I miss them more and more every day.